UNION CITY – Mississinawa Valley hosted crosstown rival Union City in girls basketball Tuesday night, and when the dust settled the Lady Indians returned to the Indiana side with a 56-28 win.
It was a slow start for both teams, and with the score tied at 7 the Indians’ defensive pressure started to yield results as they finished the first period strong, going up 18-7.
The Hawks continued to struggle in the second frame, scoring just 3 points on a triple by Mikayla Stump as the Indians put up 17 points to go up 35-10 at the half.
The Hawks lost the third period by just 1 point with Stump scoring 5.
In the final stanza Kelsie Hunt scored 6 points for a team-high 12 for the Blackhawks, but it wasn’t enough and the Indians earned bragging rights with a 56-28 win.
Union City was led by Courtney Wise with 20 points, and Kelsey Zimmers added 11.
Stump had 11 for Mississinawa to join Hunt in double digits. Hunt also had 12 rebounds.
“I was proud of our girls tonight,” Mississinawa coach John Hershey said. “I’ve been hoping to see this type of effort; the girls showed a lot of grit, bare knuckle, toe to toe – fight in them and held a pretty good basketball team in check defensively.
“We missed a lot of shots tonight. I’m happy we had a lot of opportunities, but we just didn’t shoot it well,” Hershey said.
“They had a lot of size and defensively they are good … but I thought Kelsie Hunt played well; she put the same moves on as she does against anyone despite their size. Yes, she had some shots blocked … but she took it to them and rebounded the ball well,” Hershey concluded.
Union City improved to 16-4 on the year while Mississinawa dropped to 1-12.
The Blackhawks travel to Arcanum Thursday in a Cross County Conference game.
Score by quarters:
Union City …. 18 … 17 … 12 … 09 – 56
Mississinawa 07 … 03 … 11 … 07 – 28
Team scoring:
Union City – Cantu 4, K. Kerns 9, E. Kerns 8, Wise 20, Zimmers 11, Green 2, Hartman 2
Totals – 3-18-9/13 – 56
Mississinawa – Johnson 1, Stump 11, S. Hunt 2, Willis 2, K. Hunt 12
Totals – 3-7-5/10 – 28
